Hontiveros seeks probe into alleged child rape, child marriages in Surigao 'cult'

Senator Risa Hontiveros called for the Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations, and Gender Equality to probe in aid of legislation the alleged abuse in a supposed cult in Surigao del Norte.

In proposed Senate Resolution No. 797 dated September 18, Hontiveros said the Senate received “alarming” reports of alleged rape, sexual abuse, forced labor, and forced marriage of minors in the group Socorro Bayanihan Services, Inc. (SBSI).

“A Senate investigation is needed to immediately address these urgent and alarming issues, rescue the children, effect the reintegration into society of the victims, and identify policy gaps in legislation that allow these cults to operate in plain view of the local government unit and other institutions,” she said.

The SBSI is an organization with 3,560 members including 1,587 children, the lawmaker said. It is based in an enclosed and heavily guarded area in a mountain of Sitio Kapihan in Socorro town, she added.

Citing the Socorro Task Force-Kapihan, which was created by the town’s mayor, Hontiveros said the SBSI has indicators of a religious cult with Jey Rence B. Quilario or Senior Agila as its "Messiah" and leader.

Direct and first-hand testimonies claimed that Quilario would supposedly engage in acts of sexual abuse and violence against minors, according to Hontiveros.

“Including ordering girl-children to sleep with him, facilitating child marriages of children as young as twelve years old with adults, locking adolescents in rooms in order for them to engage in sexual activities,” she said.

“Minor and adult members of the organization were made to perform acts of forced labor under pain of physical punishment, and were also forced to surrender 40-60% of their social welfare benefits (4Ps, senior citizen pensions, etc.) to Quilario,” she added.

On Monday, Hontiveros delivered a privilege speech on the issue.

“A community of children in Socorro, Surigao del Norte is crying for help. These children are our children. Ang pinag-uusapan nating mga bata ay higit sa isang libong kabataan na nasa kamay ng isang mapanlinlang, malupit, at mapang-abusong kulto,” she said.

(We are talking about over a thousand children who are in the hands of a deceitful, cruel, and abusive cult.)

For its part, SBSI is prepared to face investigations into the alleged sexual abuse of over a thousand children in Surigao del Norte's Socorro town, the organization's vice president Mamerto Galanida said Tuesday.

Denying the allegations, Galanida, who was a three-term mayor of Socorro, said they would await personnel from the Department of the Interior and Local Government to come and investigate the claim.

“Handang-handa kami. In fact, we’re expecting the secretary of Secretary [Benhur] Abalos to come. Wala namang problema,” he said in a Super Radyo dzBB interview.

(We are ready. In fact, we're expecting the secretary of Secretary Benhur Abalos to come. There’s no problem with that.) 

Galanida called as “fabricated lies” allegations that their organization is involved with drugs and harming children.

He also said the allegations that the group sourced its funding from government financial assistance to its members were “unfair” to them. —KG, GMA Integrated News